Recent Peruvian housing policies are delivering new homes in central areas of the city, promoting a more compact urban form. This study explores the new policies’ effects on environmental as well as socio-economic sustainability in the city of Lima.

Abstract

The sweeping political reforms of the 1990s completely changed the Peruvian housing sector. Following successful practices in other Latin American countries, the reform set up policies for the establishment of a new social housing sector organized by the state. These policies include the involvement of private firms in the housing sector, for the construction and finance of new homes, and on the other hand, the provision of housing subsidies to the poorest groups. Social housing programs organized according to the A-B-C (Savings – Subsidies – Credit) principles targeted to different income groups were initiated in 2003, which coupled with high rates of economic growth produced a remarkable construction boom in the capital and other large Peruvian cities. Unlike previous urban expansions – which generally consisted of one-family dwellings individually built on peripheral land – most new homes are apartments in buildings located inside the central areas of the city. This visible ‘return’ to the residential districts of the middle class, some of which were in process of decay, represents an important transformation of the usual patterns of urban development towards a more compact urban form. The present study explores the effects of the implementation of the Peruvian social housing policies on environmental as well as socio-economic sustainability in the city of Lima. The study makes use of quantitative data from census(es) and social housing agencies, and qualitative information from local observations and reports, and interviews to local experts. The results of the exploration are mixed. At aggregated level, important advances towards a more sustainable urban form and in the provision of affordable housing to lower-income groups can be observed. But a more detailed examination shows the problems and limitations of the unplanned return to the city, as well as the many difficulties to provide affordable housing to the most vulnerable groups.